Chapter 43
His daughter safely home and his family reunited once again, Alan twisted the handle to his front door and tiptoed inside to face one last encumbering obligation. There, he found Sarah and Bryan Taylor seated on the couch in his living room. Sarah looked distraught, as though she’d been weeping for days, but a gratifying smile now dominated her face. Her stare was bonded to her freshly returned daughter, Emily, who was planted on the hardwood floor, engrossed in a game of Candyland.
The family’s recliner to his right was tilted as far back as it would go. Michelle was plastered to it, fast asleep with her mouth agape and her arms draped limply over the armrests. Not wanting to chance waking her, Alan only motioned in her direction so the Taylors could perceive.
“She crashed hard about an hour or so ago,” whispered Bryan. “She brought Em to the house and surprised the bejesus out of us. But she looked ready to collapse, so we gave her ride home.”
“It was the least we could do.” Sarah rose from the couch and went to Alan, curling both arms around his neck. “It’s good to see you. Did Lauren make it home okay?” she asked in a voice rattled and shaky.
Alan nodded, accepting her hug while staying fixated on his snoozing wife. “Yeah, we got her. She rode with Jade, probably stopped at the Vincents’ to check in on Grace.”
“That’s good news…no, sorry, I mean that’s great news.” Sarah pulled away and sniffled. “We don’t really know any of the details, but we heard most of what happened. When she comes home, please tell her thank you for me and that I owe her my life. What she did for Emily…and for us can never be repaid.”
“I’ll tell her as soon as I see her again.”
Sarah crooned her gratitude. “Well, you’re home now, and we won’t keep you. We didn’t want to leave Michelle alone, as tired as she was. It just didn’t seem right.” She started to clean up the board game until Alan told her doing so wasn’t necessary, then gathered Emily and waited for Bryan at the door, where the trio bade Alan adieu.
Alan tidied up and then cautiously went to his wife, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. As his lips touched her skin, Michelle’s eyes flew open in an instant, giving him a start. “Jesus!”
“I could’ve sworn I told you to stay put,” she muttered, having gone from sound asleep to fully awake in a matter of seconds. “I get that I’m more tired now than ever before in my life, but was I hallucinating when that happened?”
Alan sighed. “No, you weren’t. That’s pretty much what you told me.”
“Pretty much. But you snubbed me. You went against me and did your own thing. You snuck away when I wasn’t looking, like some rebellious teenager.”
He nodded, not attempting in any way to hide his guilt.
“You know, Alan, you’re really becoming more and more like your old self as each day passes. You never listened to a single word I said then. And here you are, doing it again.” Michelle sat up and gazed around the room. “Where is she?”
“She’s with Jade. Back home by now. Most likely with Grace. I’m sure she’ll be strolling through that door before long.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Michelle hissed. “Of the two of you, I don’t know who tests my patience more.”
“I know. And I’m sorry, Michelle. But I couldn’t bear the thought of Lauren in the danger she was in. I saw this place, I witnessed what these people do and what they’re capable of with my own eyes. They want a war with us, and I will not bury any of my girls on behalf of it. I know it’s rough dealing with me; it’s rough dealing with myself. Every day I wake up with the whole new set of secrets, parts of me I never knew existed.”
Michelle melted onto the floor, pulling Alan down along with her, where the two sat cross-legged and face-to-face. She wanted to be angry with him, but disgust was the best she could do for now. “It’s okay,” she said, touching his face. “I’m in this for the long haul. I wouldn’t’ve waited for you if not.” She looked away, feeling now an internal pull and a sense of guilt for suppressing information. “I feel the same way you do about them, that camp and those people. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be here. They scared us, Alan. They drove up to your parents’ home and threatened us in one of those big armored trucks, all of them wearing SWAT gear and carrying the same guns they made illegal for any of us to have. I don’t want there ever to be any secrets between us. Yours are related to memory loss, and I get that, but before anything else happens or things get any worse, there’s something I have to tell you. Something you need to know.”
Alan didn’t say anything.
“You asked me a question that I never answered. I should have, but I held back; then all the crazy shit started happening, and it just sort of got misplaced.” She looked hard at him as her lips trembled. “That FEMA camp. The one you saw on your way here…”
“What about it?”
Michelle bit her lip. “Your parents are there.”
Dr. Jim Vincent answered the door, immediately backing away when he saw who his visitor was. Holding up both hands, he withdrew, palms outward in a gesture of surrender as would a victim of a robbery in progress. “Oh, dammit…it’s you…again,” he said, his British accent rattled as ever. “You wouldn’t happen to have a gun on
